Medtech Milestones: 1980s

1982: The Jarvik-7, the first permanent artificial heart, is implanted into patient Barney Clark, who lives for 112 days.

1983: President Ronald Reagan signs into law the Social Security Amendments, establishing a new method of paying hospitals for Medicare inpatient services based on diagnoses as opposed to the cost of treatment.

1983: Kary B. Mullis develops the polymerase chain reaction, allowing DNA sequences to be multiplied billions of times within hours.

1988: The Food and Drug Administration Act of 1988 establishes FDA as an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. It also specifies that the president will appoint the commissioner of food and drugs.